The Beginning of Bonds
by Kotei no Yami
Summary: Side-story to Infinite Stratos: Zero. A collection of oneshots, giving a bit of back-story as to how exactly Ichika's relationships with the girls started.


"_Everyone, I have an announcement to make."_

My name is Houki Shinonono_,_

"_We have a new classmate joining us today."_

And this is the story…

"_Hi! I'm Ichika Orimura!"_

Of how I met the love of my life.

_I briefly glanced over at the newcomer as the sensei introduced him. I didn't think much of him. Black hair, brown eyes, whiter teeth then the other boys in class._

_I could tell because he was grinning so big you could see it from space._

"_Orimura-kun, why don't you tell the class a little bit about yourself?" the sensei asked him._

**(SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ RECENT ONE PIECE CHAPTERS)**

"_Okay! I like my onee-sama, and swimming, and Naruto! But not as much as Bleach. Or One Piece! That is THE BEST show in the world! –"Ichika-kun" It was so cool seeing Kyros decapitate that big pink prick!-"Ichika-kun!" Then see Rebecca eat the Mera Mera Fruit and join the crew! Though she needs to lose the sword. There _cannot _be 3 swordsmen in the Straw-Hats!-"Ichika-kun!" But Bartolomeo can join! He is awesome! And don't even get me started on the Dwarves- "ORIMURA-KUN!"_

_After sensei stopped the new kid's… weird little monologue, he just stared at up at her innocently. "W-… why don't you just go have a seat in the empty chair next to Shinonono Houki-chan?"_

"_OKAY!" He practically yelled, as he ran to the seat next to me._

_I don't want to sit next to the weird kid. He's… well… weird!_

"_Hey! Shinonono, right?"_

"_Yeah, what?" I responded, putting my face into a scowl._

_That always worked when I didn't want to talk to someone. Whether in school or in my Kendo Dojo, I could just put on the scowl and adults and kids alike would be sent running and screaming. But he didn't run… he didn't scream… he just smiled and said 4 words that would end up changing my entire life._

"_You're my friend now!"_

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"_Winner! Shinonono Houki!"_

_As the boy rose, he gave me a small bow. I didn't bother returning it. I never understood the reasons for formalities in Kendo. You win, you win. You lose, you lose. It's that simple to me._

_The teacher gave me the same angered look he gave every time I completely humiliate one of the boys._

"_Alright, does anyone else want to take a turn against Shinonono?" _

_No response. Big surprise. The only spars I got were the new kids who thought they could beat a girl. They were the mo- "I DO I DO I DO I DO I DO!" _

"_Oh! Okay… are you sure Orimura? You just saw how um… skilled Shinonono is." Like I said new kid who think- wait, Orimura? I turned to see that the new kid in my class was talking to the teacher. He still had that mile-wide smile and was practically shaking in excitement as he put on his protective gear._

"_Um… alright. Next match Shinonono Houki vs. Orimura Ichika! Try to take it easy Shinonono, alright?" I nodded, not intending to at all. The sensei gave me a look knowing what I was intending. "Begin!- "WAIT!"_

"_Um... yes, Orimura?" sensei asked as I stopped the motions to rush him._

_He held his chin as if in deep thoug- ahahahahaha! I'm sorry I couldn't say that with a straight face!_

"_It's not… even." He said, getting a mystified look from everyone in the dojo._

"_W-what isn't Orimura?"_

"_The spar. It's too uneven… I KNOW!" He shouted, startling everyone._

_He unwrapped the bandages on the handle of his Shinai and re-wrapped them around his head so it covered his right eye._

"_Um… are you sure you want to do that Orimura?"_

"_Oh that's not all I'm doing!" He said running down a hall. He came back a minute later… came back, as in hopped back because his left wrist was tied to his right ankle behind his back._

"_Are you trying to be funny, or are you just that stupid?" I asked getting annoyed with this very quickly._

"_Little a both!" At least he's honest._

"_Whatever. If you get hurt don't blame me."_

"_Wouldn't dream of it!"_

"_Are you um… sure you want to spar like that Orimura?" the sensei asked Orimura nervously._

"_It'll be alright! Trust me!"_

"_Are you sure you don't even want a Shinai instead of a… broom?"_

"_I'll be okay!"_

"_But-_

"**Sensei…**_**" **__He said slowly, his demeanor changing but not his expression. _**(THINK UNOHANA)**_**"**_**I. Will. Be. Fine. Understood**_**?"**_

"_I… understand… please… excuse me… I just… soiled myself… begin… at your leisure…" The sensei stumbled off in a daze, all traces of color gone from his face as if it had never been there to begin with, a brown substance falling out the back of his hakama, followed by a yellow liquid._

_Looking at the scene before me, I looked Orimura dead in his still smiling face, bowing at the waist, getting a surprised look from him. That being the first not-smiling face I had seen. "Please teach me your ways"_

_There was a momentary pause before he went back to smiling. "~only if you beat me~"_

"_Then what are we waiting for?" I said charging at him, both my Shinai in-hand._

(**WARNING! I HAVE NEXT TO NO IDEA HOW KENDO IS PREFORMED)**

_I tried hitting his exposed left side with my right Shinai, but he jumped backwards. My left Shinai made a move for his head, but he leaned back. I tried using both Shinai to aim for his head and his leg simultaneously; he (bear with me here) jumped so that his body was horizontal with both my swings._

_I kept swinging at him, but he just jumped over every strike. How, with an arm, a leg and an eye bound, I have no idea._

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_I can tell that she's getting frustrated. After a certain point, she abandoned any sort of skill or technique, just swinging her Shinais around trying to hit me. Those kinds of swings were many times easier to dodge than the ones from before._

_She stopped attacking, so I stayed in place, not needing to hop despite my bound leg._

"_STOP RUNNING AWAY YOU BIG CHICKEN!"_

"_If I'm a chicken then you're a wild beast with no control over itself, who after getting frustrated resorts to brute force like a barbarian, instead of using grace and skill like a warrior!" I said, never losing my smile._

_She started tearing up. "Why ya crying? 'Cause you can't hit me? In that case, you can have a freebie!" I held my arm out away from my body to make myself defenseless and stood there, waiting for her to strike. What she did next was unexpected. Instead of swinging her shinai at me, she kicked me in the groin. _

_We stood there for a moment frozen. Shinonono fell over clutching her foot, crying even harder in pain. I didn't feel any pain at all though, and felt pretty bad since that must have hurt a lot for her. _

_**(Even as a child, ICHIKA HAD BALLS OF STEEL MOTHERFUCKER!) **_

_I waited for her to calm down just a bit, and then undid my restraints and walked over to her. I tapped my broom against her forehead, and started laughing like a hyena. "I beat Houki with a houki! Hahahahaha!" _

_She did not take kindly to that and again tried to take a swing at me, but at least she wasn't focusing on the pain anymore, and her crying subsided somewhat. _

"_Orimura, you're a jerk!" She said, running out of the dojo still in tears, screaming. _

"Sweet Mother Teresa on the hood of a Mercedes-Benz, she sounds like a majestic fucking eagle."_ I said before heading to the showers. It's almost time to get home!_

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"_Tomboy! Tomboy! Tomboy! Tomboy! Tomboy!" three stupid boys in my class repeated. It was after class, and the sensei had asked me, Orimura, and several no-name cannon fodder who you will never hear about again after this chapter to clean the classroom._

"_(sigh) Hey! If you guys are gonna mess around at least do it on your own time!" Orimura said, halting his sweeping._

"_Why are you taking _cleaning_ so_ _seriously_ _Orimura?" Boy Number 1 said like an idiot._

"_The teacher told us to."_

"_That's just stupid!" Boy Number 2 said, matching the stupidity of the first. _

"_What's wrong with taking things seriously? I "asked" Boy Number 2 grabbing the front of his shirt. "Compared to you jerks, he's a million _billion_ times nicer!"_

"_HAH! Thought so! You two are married!" Boy Number 3 said. If you can guess how he said it you win a slice of cake!_

_That's when Boy Number 1 got the bright idea to pick up a ruler and try to hit me with it… his plans were halted however when he ran face first into the small brick wall that was Orimura Ichika's outstretched fist._

"_My Onee-sama said, and I quote" he cleared his throat "Ichika, never insult a girl. Only compliment them" he said in a voice that, to anyone who knew her, was a perfect imitation of Orimura Chifuyu._

_Boys Numbers 1 and 2, who were both still awake, ganged up on Orimura. Needless to say, they did not stay conscious very long._

_All I could do was stand in awe at the grace of his movements,_

_After Orimura carried numbers 1, 2, and 3 to the nurse's office (all three at once I might add) we made our way to the Kendo dojo._

"_Hey Shinonono! What's keeping ya? We're gonna be late for Kendo."_

"_You're stupid"_

"_You're just realizing that now?" _

"_I was the one they were making fun of. It had nothing to do with you. Now you're going to get in trouble with the sensei!"_

_He just looked at the sky, as if thinking of what to say. "I just didn't like that those guys were messing with my Friend!"_

_I stopped dead in my tracks. He still considered me his friend?_

"_Well c'mon Shinon- "Houki!"_

"_Wha?" he said intelligently._

"_M-my whole family's Shinonono, it'll g-get confusing, s-so just call me Houki" I explained, trying desperately to keep from stuttering. I failed miserably._

_He just stood there for a minute, not saying a word. He just kept staring at me, his wide-eyed expression not changing at all._

_With the smoothness of silk, his face set into the most beautiful, serene smile I had ever seen. His voice came out with the gentleness of a mother holding her new-born child. _

"_Only if you call me Ichika, okay Houki?"_

_All I could do was nod and gaze in awe, as if staring directly in the face of an angel._

_Ichika came up and softly took my hand in his and gently led the way to the dojo._

_I knew from that day… this was the person I would always want to be next to._

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**FINISHED! Okay I think that went pretty well! This entire purpose of this story is give a bit of back-story to where Ichika's relationship with his harem really begins, hence the name. There will be one-shots with all the girls and the final one, a look into Ichika history… It's not the same as in the anime or light novel**

**And for those of you confused about the Kendo scene, houki means broom… why any parent would name their child broom, I have no idea.**

**Anyway I just wanna thank my co-author Aokage for sitting through my shit and for just being a bro in general. **

**Please review and I hope you enjoyed!**


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